Reef Fish wrote:
Jer wrote:

Reef Fish wrote:


For those divers who are concerned with the anchoring cruise ships
damaging the reefs of Cozumel dive sites, I can say positively and
unequivocally (based on my well over 1,200 dives in Cozumel) that there
is NO WAY in Hell (ooops, that's in the next stop at Grand Cayman) that
the anchoring at that distance from shore in the channel that it could
damage any coral (if there's any at that distance and depth) that is
ever
seen by any diver in Cozumel, nor could it possibly make any difference
to the reefs south of the Puerta Maya pier.

What about the reefs north of the damaged pier? We can't not consider
those - they're the mating areas of eagle rays. I realize not a lot of
divers go there, but that's beside my point. Everything matters, not
just the parts most divers see. Out of sight != out of mind.


First of all, you have to know a bit more about the geography and
current of the island.

The mating areas of eagle rays are in the upper NORTH (near the
East side) of the island. Even if there is constant excavation of sand

and silt at the spot the cruiseship was anchored, the direction of the
current will likely NEVER get there!

It takes MILES before it reaches the San Juan Reef north of the
Square. Then the 3-4 knot current of San Juan goes WEST when
it meets the current of the Barracuda Reef.

I know some things about the geography and currents of the island too,
but I'm not going to get into a ****ing contest about it. Yes, I know
where eagle rays mate, we've been filming them off and on for 20 odd
years between the marsh and San Juan.


Besides, what make you think that the eagle rays would be affected
by a few drops of sand. They stir up more sand looking for food than
the cruise ships!

True, but they're just doing what comes natural to them - you're not.
Therefore, what they do is inconsequential to us and expected - the
reverse of that is inexcusable.


Eagle mating season in Cozumel (Dec - Mar) was a relatively new
phenomenon discovered by some locals where dive shops DON'T
go. I was diving with those eagle rays in 1998 before any dive shop
even knew about the eagle ray mating in the North. I posted this
in March 2000, when someone reported that Blue Angel was taking
divers to the spot between downtown and San Juan reef where
eagle rays visit regularly from the North:

I don't need no stinking dive shop to take me anywhere I want to go - I
use my own boat any time I want. And some locals have known about the
eagle rays for a lot longer you - some tried to keep a lid on it until
Cousteau opened his mouth long before you did.


From your description, I think you were at the site where I dived, a
ledge
at 75 to 90 fsw of very swift current. I am curious as to what profile
you
did with Blue Angle (depth/time). When I did it privately, we were
always
small groups of air-misers and we dived with EAN36 and were able to
stay
at 80 fsw for nearly an hour, hanging near the ledge while watching the

squadrons of rays pass by over and over again. That was a couple of
years
ago, before any dive shop took divers out there.

That put my first encounter with those squadrons of eagle rays back
to 1998, before the new cruise ship piers were built. The arrival of
the cruise ships, as much as 10 on some days, did not affect the
annual mating of those eagle rays one whit.

That's an opinion which some locals don't share. When we were filming
up there, we routinely ran the magazines dry. Now? what's the point?
There's not enough to bother with. Don't presume to tell me the eagle
ray population is the same today as it was in '98, or long before that.
That's an opinion that is shared by some locals, and me.


The marine animals are much smarter and can adapt to changing
environments (as "survival of the fittest") much better than homo
sapiens, or the myopic give them credit for.

You can try shopping that crap around with your pod friends, but for all
the areas of the world that have been adversely affected by coastal
development and the pollution from it, you're an idiot, and we know it.
Now you do too.




So, that's good news.

Cruise ships are always bad news.


Only to the myotic and prejudiced.

-- Bob.


Imagine that... a pod person calling me myotic and prejudiced. How
quaint.


--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'